Learning Through Art

Learning Through Art at the MFAH connects the Museum's collections of world art into classroom curriculum for art, language arts, math, science, and social studies. LTA/MFAH bridges disciplines and curriculums to enable students to explore key concepts in the real world context of the art museum while teaching literacy and writing skills, math, science, and social studies. Use the Museum’s elementary and middle school curriculum to integrate higher level cognitive skills, such as observing and organizing information, making predictions, and communicating ideas and thoughts with art inquiry methods to ultimately promote the students’ development of 21st-century skills that are needed to succeed in the world.

Through discussions on works of art from the MFAH collections and hands-on art projects using everyday materials, LTA/MFAH teacher training introduces TEKS and STAAR-aligned lessons that use the visual arts to teach students how to think critically and creatively as well as encourage self-confident, self-motivated, and self-disciplined learners.

All "Learning Through Art" workshops are G/T approved.

Online Curriculum

The Learning Through Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston online curriculum is an exciting way to connect your classroom to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Discover how the MFAH collections of world art can be used to teach language arts, social studies, math, science and art to K-12 students.

Learning Through Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curriculum portal consists of four parts:
• Curriculum Connections: Written and tested by Houston-area teachers, Curriculum Connections are flexible and can be easily incorporated into the language arts, social studies, math, science, and art classrooms.
• Image Library: Search by content area and habit of mind or thinking disposition to find the work of art that suits your classroom needs.
• Tips for Teaching: Explore techniques to incorporate object-based teaching into your classroom and to integrate higher-level cognitive skills to promote the students’ development of 21st-century skills.
• Teaching Resources: The online resource pairs Museum collections with materials that can easily be integrated across your K–12 curriculum.

Ongoing Workshops at the MFAH

We offer a multitude of learning opportunities throughout the year to help K–12 educators integrate the arts into their classrooms for successful learning, including Learning Through Art at the MFAH workshops!

Workshops for K–12 Schools & Districts

Learning Through Art at the MFAH connects the Museum’s collections of world art into the classroom curriculum for art, language arts, math, science, and social studies. The MFAH offers workshops on the LTA curriculum throughout the year. Workshops based on the curriculum are conducted at the Museum, schools, and district facilities. These workshops may be specially designed to suit the needs and interests of the group and can be tailored based on subject area, goals, and grade levels. Contact teachers@mfah.org to schedule your LTA training. Through tours of the Museum´s galleries and hands-on art projects using everyday materials, LTA elementary-level teacher training introduces TEKS-aligned lessons that use the visual arts to teach literacy and writing skills, math, science, and social studies.

Curriculum Kit

Learning Through Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston features two curriculum kits: one for grades 1–3 and another for grades 4–6. Each kit contains a teacher’s guide with multidisciplinary lesson charts, illustrated art-making lesson plans, and information about selected works of art; a set of 24” x 36” full-color posters of each work; a CD containing digital images of works of art; a video (DVD or VHS) featuring four Texas artists at work.